6, Durngate Street

This is a probably 18th-century house, predating 1771 and subject to later alterations. The building is constructed from hammer-dressed Ridgeway or Portland stone with red brick voussoirs, and has a pitched tile roof and high brick chimney stacks.

The site is divided into two sections on current Ordnance Survey maps; the western portion has a north-west extension, and the eastern portion a northern extension with a slight projection to the west. Earlier Ordnance Survey maps indicate the building was originally rectangular, with several small outbuildings to the north, which may now form the basis of the northern extensions. Until 1902, numbers 6 and 7 Durngate Street shared a rear courtyard.

The two-storey street frontage is three bays wide. The first floor has three segmental-headed windows with casement frames. The front door is set within a plain doorway with a segmental-headed brick arch, matching the windows. To the left of the door, an embrasure indicates a later bay window, which is contained within the wall's thickness. This is an unusual feature, and may represent evidence of a former doorway. There are two dormer windows with casements in the attic. The interior has not been inspected.

Durngate Street is located in the centre of Dorchester, a site occupied since Roman times. Hutchins’s map of 1771 shows Durngate Street as almost completely built up on both sides, although it also includes later buildings. Number 6 Durngate Street is believed to have been constructed before 1771.

The building is designated at Grade II for its architectural merit as a noteworthy example of a modest, two-storey 18th-century Dorchester house, and for its group value with adjacent listed buildings and other listed buildings within Durngate Street.